Get More Visitors!

Now that you have a great new web design for your company, you want to make sure people are actually visiting it. There are many ways to attract people to your website besides waiting on your search engine optimization efforts to bring you to the top of Google. Depending on your business, some methods of bringing more visitors to your website might be better than others. Here are a few ways we recommend driving more traffic to your website.

Social Media

The verdict is out: you need to be involved in the social media community! Remember, your goal with social media should be to get people to visit your actual website. By getting involved in the conversation on sites like Twitter and Facebook, you can discuss relevant information with people and start to develop groups that all share the same interest. Getting involved may take some time, but social media will only help your business as much as you let it. Facebook also has advertising functions that might allow your company the right exposure. It all depends on the market you are trying to attract and how many of them are using Facebook.

Blog

By having a blog for your company and updating it frequently, your website will have new, fresh content that the search engines like to see. Maybe more importantly though, you are sharing valuable information with people out there that you want to visit your website. You should also find other people’s blogs that have relevant information for your company. By following them, you will learn more useful tips and stay on top of the latest trends. It is a good idea to post comments on other blogs too, because that will get you involved in the conversation and help you grow valuable relationships. Some blogs even allow you to leave a link going back to your main website. Make sure your comments are of value though, because writing “Great post!” will not make people want to click on the link you provided for your website.

Google Adwords

Google is a powerful way to attract people to your website, even if your SEO doesn’t have you at the top of the keyword search results. By setting up Adwords for your company, you have the freedom to list your online advertisements how you want to. Your ad will appear at the top or the side of the search results page, in the area that says “Sponsored Links”. Adwords allows you to customize the ad, pay as much as you want to each month and make your advertisements appear for the keywords that you want. By using these targeted keywords, you can run very cost effective advertising online.

Other ways to get involved in online conversations and develop groups of people to communicate with include online article submitting sites like ezine.com, press releases and forums. There are a lot of people blogging and communicating on forums online. Start out by finding a few that are worth following and try adding a couple each week. By staying in contact with more and more people, you can watch the number of visitors to your site grow.

Credit: Social Orgs, Nan Ke

“More time is now spent on social networking than on e-mail…..The rapidly evolving world of social networks and blogs has officially grown up.Yesterday(Sep 16th), Facebook just claimed that it has 300 million active monthly users globally, and is getting 3 million new users every WEEK.

One of the most valuable aspects of social media for business is the ability to learn more about our business partners, clients, and prospects from a “personal” perspective.  After all, social networking is all about building “relationships.”  Just as early CRM programs encouraged us to capture things like clients’ favorite sports, theatre interests, family info, etc., those personal elements are now freely available and readily broadcast.

There are thousands of social media out there. So what and where to start? Here our Naperville web design company has listed 5 social networks that would bring most boost to your businesses , within which the last 2 are especially for business users.

1.Twitter

Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read each other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

Why is it important?

• Communicate information about the company via a profile along with capability of using logo in each individual message (Tweet)
• Send messages instantaneously about new product development, events, and any significant news within the company
• Establish two way communication with any clients or customers or the general public in a new way

2. Linked In

The purpose of Linkedin is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.

What can it do?

• Set up organizational profile to establish company presence
• Create personal profile to establish identity
• Industry issues can be discussed to gain recognition and involvement of individual company represented
• Can join related groups to establish and grow relationships and find new business contacts

3.Facebook

In Facebook users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. People can also add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.  Company and organizational profiles can also be established.

Why use it?

• Increases awareness of companies and individuals
• Can create company profile to establish organizational presence
• Communicate with individuals and company at all levels
• Creates a place to become fans of the company and can get targeted messages

continued: 5 Most Useful Social Media for Small Business (2)

Bing to Power Yahoo Search

With the search engine and search advertising partnership in the works between Yahoo! and Microsoft, how much will your website have to adapt to a growing number of users trying to find you on something other than Google? Yahoo will soon incorporate Microsoft’s Bing technology as its default search engine, giving the pair almost 30% market share in US searches versus Google’s 65%.

So what does this mean for the effort you’ve put into making sure your creative web design stays on top of the search results? With Bing taking over Yahoo Search, it is going to be important for webmasters to be aware of the importance of Bing in the future. While optimizing for Bing is generally a good idea anyway, those who see a good deal of traffic from Yahoo! are going to have to make sure they pay attention to their Bing results now. Once the switch comes next year, your Yahoo Search results aren’t going to matter as much as your Bing ones.

The differences between ranking well in Google and in Bing are luckily not too far apart, but there are a few things that Bing holds more important. Domain age seems to play a stronger role in the search results for Bing, as well as the amount of text on your website. Unlike Google however, blogs linked to your website aren’t quite as important as on Google.

For all the concern over rankings out there and how to optimize for different search engines, it is important to remember that there are other aspects of bringing your company business through your website. Social media like Facebook and Twitter have been growing fast in the business world, and your company can draw in many visitors from these sites alone, without worrying about those people finding you on a search engine.

Social Bookmarking Builds Links

Here is the last installment of this three part series. Did you find this article from Greg Shuey interesting? There are so many ways to build links out there, and they can get overwhelming sometimes. Just keep in mind that link building is going to help you in the long run and make sure you manage the time you spend on link building effectively. Remember, design your website first with the user in mind and then for the search engines.

Submit Your Site To Local & Industry Specific Online Business Directories

Seek out local directories and directories that are specific to your business. Submit to these first and take your time filling out all of the information that they ask for. These will be some of your most valuable links since they are so relevant to your website and business. Make sure when someone searches for your Chicago area web design company they can find you.

Social Bookmarking

You can waste a lot of time social bookmarking if you are submitting to the wrong sites. I limit my social bookmarking to Mixx, Propeller and sometimes Kirtsy. The trick to social bookmarking is to not only bookmark your website, your blog posts, and other things related to your website, but bookmarking lots of different things that interest you, like experienced Chicago web designers.

Write An Article And Submit To Article Directories

Writing articles and submitting them to sites like Ezine Articles is a great way to get links back to your website. Take time to write a very detailed article about your industry and submit it to a few article directories like the ones I listed above. You will get links back to your website by properly using the author resource or bio box at the end of the article. You should tell a little about yourself and your company, while adding keyword rich anchor text links pointing back to your website.

Credit: Greg Shuey

Follow Us on Twitter!

Now you can follow one of our designers on Twitter. Check it out and follow us to get cool design tips, website samples and connect with a lot of other great people too!

Want to connect with us on other sites? Systemtek is on Youtube, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Facebook as well.

Social Media is a great way to keep up with all the latest news and meet lots of new people. Hope to see you out there!

Get Connected in Social Media

While I’m saying it’s really easy, I mean it. Give it a try!

Follow these, and you’ll grasp all you need for social media and jump start in a few hours.

1. Where to Social for Small Businesses?

A: Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and your own Blog.

These are what so far I found most efficient for small businesses. Forget about hanging on 50+ different social media sites unless you have a same sized marketing department and dollar as Dell. It is completely time-and-money-consuming business.

2. How to be Social?

A: Be yourself. Be personal. Start with your own blog and try to update weekly at first.

Research! Listen 300% more what other say. Then you talk.

Try publish more often, 5+ daily . Commit.

3.What to Social?

Blog and Twit about You, Your Family, Your Business , Your Customers, and Your Goals.

Being personal and sociable is very important. Comment on other blogs. Remember to be RESPONSIVE to your audiences, twitter followers and facebook fans. Answer their questions and involve in their discussions.

Social media is useful for almost every type of business. Cafes, retail stores, and even professional services can build their online reputation and increase trust. By taking advantage of social media, businesses can make themselves more accessible, more personable, and maintain long term connections. For a small business looking to increase referrals, social media can be a powerful tool.

Here are five ways small businesses can capitalize on this new form of marketing.

Why use social media?

Social Media for Small Businesses

The best way to illustrate why small businesses are using social media is with a story. Think back to the days of the wild west. In those days, towns had one general store, and the store owner knew everyone. People trusted him and knew what they were getting. Enter the industrial age, and efficiency trumped personalization. People didn’t mind where they bought from, as long as goods were cheap.

Now, that mentality has changed. Consumers are once again reverting to a need for personalization from businesses large and small. The need has been rekindled by the Internet and our ability to find anything we want, as well as a mistrust of advertising (think used cars salesmen).

We’ve reached a point where the consumer wants to know the store owner’s name and that he can be trusted. Small businesses must look beyond their want to grow into corporations, and instead focus on their core customers. Thanks to social media, we’re able to foster these relationships easily and quickly.

Sizzling Summer Internet Marketing Tips (2): Generate Word of Mouth Marketing

Chances are your happiest customers are the best and cheapest marketing tool you have at your disposal. People who are already fanatical about your company’s products or services will be the first to tell their friends, coworkers, and personal network about the quality of service they receive. So here are a few ideas to get your best customers talking more about you:

• Ask customers to spread the word. Don’t be afraid to ask your most satisfied customers to tell their friends, colleagues, or family members about your business. Consider offering them some exclusive service or benefits that they can brag about to their friends; try a VIP email newsletter list that puts customers “in the know” about new products, sales or promotions before anyone else. Then add a link to every email marketing promotion you send that allows them to forward the message to a friend. Soon, their friends will want to get in on the action, your VIP list will grow, and so will your business.

• Give people something to talk about. One customer with a family-friendly restaurant started offering stroller valet. Word got out that not only could you enjoy a great meal there, but you could also bring your kids without worrying about inconveniencing other diners when deciding where to park the bulky stroller. This tactic is especially helpful in busy downtown locations or shopping areas. Another restaurant promotes Tuesday nights in the summer as “family night”. What was once a slow night for their kitchen now encourages local customers with children to come in and feel right at home. A preset kids’ menu and a few decibels noisier, now it’s the most popular place in town for the family crowd. As a side benefit, the customers without children, who appreciate a quiet meal, know to make plans for any other evening. Think about ways you could offer a memorable service experience and get people talking.
• Make it easy. If you’re selling products by mail or in stores, consider including something memorable or
noteworthy in the box or bag. It can be silly, inspirational, or whimsical, but it should remind them who
you are and that you offer more than your competitors. Better yet, include two items and ask them to
give one to a friend.

Sizzing Summer Internet Marketing Tips (1)

More Marketing Articles visit napervillemarketingideas.com

Been helped small business succeed on their online marketing ,  the following ideas gethered by us could help you to boost your business this summer for sizzling success.

1. Launch a Customer Win-Back Campaign

This approach ties into the notion of customer loyalty. While your competitors may be taking the summer season in stride, your message will resonate loud and clear. You miss them and want them back. To win back a previous customer, it’ll cost you less than acquiring a new one. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Send lapsed customers a self-addressed, stamped postcard for a survey. Find out why they’ve taken their business elsewhere. Was it a service or price issue? Is there something you can do to win them back? Just asking the question shows that you care and you’ll probably learn something new about your business in the process.

• Offer an incentive to come back.  Send them an email or postcard and offer them a discount off a product or service. It might be just the reminder that you mean what you say.

Create an alert in your survey if someone answers a question reflecting a poor service experience. If they come back, work extra hard to change their mind. The difference now is you know why they left in the first place.

…to be continued.

Not Only does Google Maps Put you in front of millions of customer searching businesses in your area,  In addition,Google Maps is an important factor determining your web site’s ranking order in Google and other search engine results pages. And it usually takes 6-8 weeks for Google to acknowledge your listing-so act now!

Systemtek now ranks No.2 on the map of the Google search result page on the search term "Naperville Web Design" .

Here is a video step-by-step.

Video credit: Andew Wong 15